[Elecraft] Oh Ye of Little Faith - Random Wire Ant. for K1

Wed Aug 21 16:45:01 2002

Motion seconded here!  I have been carrying routinely in my portable
QRP antenna kit (housed in a belly or waist pack) several lengths of 33'
and 66' hookup wire hanks, each terminated in a banana plug, one Pomona
BNC to binding post adapter (beware of the cheap ones at Radio Shack!
spend the money on a really GOOD one!), one spool of nylon seine line
(about 1/16" diameter), several "teardrop" or "bell" sinkers 1/2 and 1 ounce
for throwing over limbs, up in trees etc.(paint them bright day glo orange
do they are easy to spot hanging or on the ground or grass!)  I use
one sloping wire for a radiator and several laid on the ground for 
a counterpoise.  A "randowm wire" antenna will perform 
MUCH BETTER with a counterpoise or radial system, no less than 
2 or three or more.  
WIRE?  I use #24 guage stranded "Mil Spec" type insulated hookup wire.
Large (1000') reels can be bought at the larger hamfests very cheaply.
Last batch I got was at Dayton for about $3-4 a reel!  The "Mil-Spec" wire
has a lot of strands and is very flexible, unlike the poor quality stuff you get
at Radio Shack.
INSULATORS?  You already have a roll of Nylon line!  Make them from small 
loops using about 4-6 inches of the nylon line.  Strong and disposable.
If you MUST have "proper" insulators, make them from 1/8" plexaglas
or something similar available in small odd quantities in the "scrap bin"
at Cadillac Plastics stores.  "Sign shops" sometimes have oddss and ends
of plastic to serve the same purpose.
73 to all and good portable QRPing!
Sandy W5TVW
K1 #1178

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Niel Wiegand" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Cc: <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, August 21, 2002 6:04 AM
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Oh Ye of Little Faith - Random Wire Ant. for K1

| I've had great results on 20 with endfed antennas and the K1/KAT1.
| Typically I use a endfed zepp in order to get the antenna a little bit
| up in the air ( see: http://www.io.com/~nielw/qrp2/endfed_ant.htm ).
| I've also used a 67' piece of wire (full wave on 20) plus a single 1/4
| wave 17' ground/counterpoise. The KAT1 loads up both just fine. This
| past weekend "picnic table" DX from SE MN included both coasts plus
| Barbados/8P6BX.
| 
| 73, Niel - W0VLZ
| K1 #750
| 
| 
| > Message: 27
| > From: "Philip Westover" <[email protected]>
| > To: <[email protected]>
| > Date: Tue, 20 Aug 2002 20:49:23 -0700
| > Subject: [Elecraft] Oh Ye of Little Faith - Random Wire Ant. for K1
| > 
| > Well, after much procrastination, I decided to try an
| > antenna recommended by Wayne for my K1 (has a KAT1
| > installed).  I ran a 35 foot wire straight from the BNC
| > connector out the back, with about a 25 foot ground wire,
| > also straight out the BNC connector.  With a quick ATU
| > match, I proceeded to get several multi-state contacts while
| > sitting on the grass in my backyard!  I guess when "The Man"
| > says he optimized the KAT1 for such antennas, I guess I
| > should have a little more faith.  From now on, forget about
| > having to find all those trees in the right places for my
| > dipole, and forget about that lossy feedline!  Amen,
| > Brother!
| > 
| <snip>
| > 
| > 73,
| > Phil, WA7URV
| > K1 #220
| > K2 #2690
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